11.24.2007

Attending the University of iPod

Ok, let's get something straight. Pink Floyd was wrong. You do need education. That doesn't mean you need to spend a lot of money or time in a classroom, however...education comes in a variety of ways, and now, it comes for free on your iPod.

I ran across an article in the LA Times that clued me into one of the great pointy-head freebies of all time: Major universities are posting many of their classes on iTunes for free download.

Understand, we're not talking about Sally Struthers' "Become a Paralegal" classes, either. Through Apple's iTunes University, schools like Berkeley, Stanford, MIT and Yale are allowing the rest of us to listen in on the best they have to offer, withouttuition. Heck, even without Apple's .99 cent download charge!

Granted, it's true that you can't get a diploma through iTunes U (yet), but you can learn. And isn't that why people were supposed to go to school anyway? The diploma was something conjured up to make people feel better about amassing student loans. With iTunes U, you won't have any student loans, so don't sweat it.

My only problem now is to decide if I want to eavesdrop on the Yale School of Management or MIT's Aircraft Systems Engineering class.

This is ground breaking. Ignorance is running out of places to hide. Do not give it sanctuary.

Brent, be patient with me. I'm old. Technology is not my first language. Your generation was born with a Playstation controller in your hand. I grew up with the calloused hands of a sharecropper. It's a wonder I can use one of these new cellular phones.